The perceived value of children among the Sudanese and Javanese

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Description

The survey which forms the basis of this study was carried out
amongst the two largest cultural groups in Indonesia, the Sundanese and
the Javanese, in 1975. It was part of the second phase of the
Cross-national Value of children (VOC) Project.
This study specifically attempted to investigate the perceived
value of children of the high and low socio-economic status groups
within the two societies (Sundanese and Javanese). Classifications of
socio-economic strata in the selection of...[Show more] sample areas were based on the
data on agricultural density, road distance from an urban centre,
proportion of the labour force in agriculture, proportion of the labour
force in commerce and industry, and proportion of agricultural land
under irrigation.
The differences between socio-economic groups within the two
societies in their perceived values of children, and the correlations
between the values and attitude towards family planning were examined in
this study. Some factors that are considered to have influences on the
relationships between the values of children and attitude towards family
planning of the respective groups were also examined.
The psychological advantages of having children were more
important for the high socio-economic than the low socio-economic
groups, whereas the economic advantage of children were more important
for the low socio-economic than the high socio-economic groups. The
emotional costs were stressed more by the respondents of the high
socio-economic than the low socio-economic groups, and more by female
respondents. The low socio-economic groups had stronger awareness of
the economic costs of children than the high socio-economic groups.